Equivalent of shell cd command to change the working directory

Question

cd is the shell command to change the working directory  How do I change the current working directory in Python

User · Accepted Answer

You can change the working directory with:

import os

os.chdir(path)

There are two best practices to follow when using this method:

Catch the exception (WindowsError, OSError) on invalid path. If the exception is thrown, do not perform any recursive operations, especially destructive ones. They will operate on the old path and not the new one.
Return to your old directory when you're done. This can be done in an exception-safe manner by wrapping your chdir call in a context manager, like Brian M. Hunt did in his answer.

Changing the current working directory in a subprocess does not change the current working directory in the parent process. This is true of the Python interpreter as well. You cannot use os.chdir() to change the CWD of the calling process.

User · Answer

os chdir   is the right way

User · Answer

Here s an example of a context manager to change the working directory  It is simpler than an ActiveState version referred to elsewhere  but this gets the job done   Context Manager  cd  import os  class cd         Context manager for changing the current working directory        def   init   self  newPath           self newPath   os path expanduser newPath       def   enter   self           self savedPath   os getcwd           os chdir self newPath       def   exit   self  etype  value  traceback           os chdir self savedPath    Or try the more concise equivalent below   using ContextManager   Example  import subprocess   just to call an arbitrary command e g   ls     enter the directory like this  with cd    Library         we are in   Library    subprocess call  ls      outside the context manager we are back wherever we started

User · Answer

cd   is easy to write using a generator and a decorator  from contextlib import contextmanager import os   contextmanager def cd newdir       prevdir   os getcwd       os chdir os path expanduser newdir       try          yield     finally          os chdir prevdir   Then  the directory is reverted even after an exception is thrown  os chdir   home    with cd   tmp                  raise Exception  quot There s no place like  home  quot     Directory is now back to   home

User · Answer

I would use os chdir like this   os chdir   path to change to     By the way  if you need to figure out your current path  use os getcwd     More here

User · Answer

os chdir   is the Pythonic version of cd

User · Answer

If you re using a relatively new version of Python  you can also use a context manager  such as this one   from   future   import with statement from grizzled os import working directory  with working directory path to directory         code in here occurs within the directory    code here is in the original directory   UPDATE  If you prefer to roll your own   import os from contextlib import contextmanager   contextmanager def working directory directory       owd   os getcwd       try          os chdir directory          yield directory     finally          os chdir owd

User · Answer

If You would like to perform something like  cd    option  just type   os chdir         it is the same as in Windows cmd  cd   Of course import os is neccessary  e g type it as 1st line of your code

User · Answer

If you re using a relatively new version of Python  you can also use a context manager  such as this one   from   future   import with statement from grizzled os import working directory  with working directory path to directory         code in here occurs within the directory    code here is in the original directory   UPDATE  If you prefer to roll your own   import os from contextlib import contextmanager   contextmanager def working directory directory       owd   os getcwd       try          os chdir directory          yield directory     finally          os chdir owd

User · Answer

The Path objects in path library offer both a context manager and a chdir method for this purpose  from path import Path  with Path  quot somewhere quot             Path  quot somewhere quot   chdir

User · Answer

os chdir   is the Pythonic version of cd

User · Answer

If you re using a relatively new version of Python  you can also use a context manager  such as this one   from   future   import with statement from grizzled os import working directory  with working directory path to directory         code in here occurs within the directory    code here is in the original directory   UPDATE  If you prefer to roll your own   import os from contextlib import contextmanager   contextmanager def working directory directory       owd   os getcwd       try          os chdir directory          yield directory     finally          os chdir owd

User · Answer

If You would like to perform something like  cd    option  just type   os chdir         it is the same as in Windows cmd  cd   Of course import os is neccessary  e g type it as 1st line of your code

User · Answer

import os  abs path    C   a b c  rel path      folder   os chdir abs path  os chdir rel path    You can use both with os chdir abs path  or os chdir rel path   there s no need to call os getcwd   to use a relative path

User · Answer

os chdir   is the right way

User · Answer

The Path objects in path library offer both a context manager and a chdir method for this purpose  from path import Path  with Path  quot somewhere quot             Path  quot somewhere quot   chdir

User · Answer

As already pointed out by others  all the solutions above only change the working directory of the current process  This is lost when you exit back to the Unix shell  If desperate you can change the parent shell directory on Unix with this horrible hack   def quote against shell expansion s       import pipes     return pipes quote s   def put text back into terminal input buffer text         use of this means that it only works in an interactive session        and if the user types while it runs they could insert characters between the characters in  text        import fcntl  termios     for c in text          fcntl ioctl 1  termios TIOCSTI  c   def change parent process directory dest         the horror     put text back into terminal input buffer  cd   quote against shell expansion dest    n

User · Answer

I would use os chdir like this   os chdir   path to change to     By the way  if you need to figure out your current path  use os getcwd     More here

User · Answer

If you use spyder and love GUI  you can simply click on the folder button on the upper right corner of your screen and navigate through folders directories you want as current directory  After doing so you can go to the file explorer tab of the window in spyder IDE and you can see all the files folders present there  to check your current working directory go to the console of spyder IDE and simply type pwd  it will print the same path as you have selected before

User · Answer

cd   is easy to write using a generator and a decorator  from contextlib import contextmanager import os   contextmanager def cd newdir       prevdir   os getcwd       os chdir os path expanduser newdir       try          yield     finally          os chdir prevdir   Then  the directory is reverted even after an exception is thrown  os chdir   home    with cd   tmp                  raise Exception  quot There s no place like  home  quot     Directory is now back to   home

User · Answer

Changing the current directory of the script process is trivial  I think the question is actually how to change the current directory of the command window from which a python script is invoked  which is very difficult  A Bat script in Windows or a Bash script in a Bash shell can do this with an ordinary cd command because the shell itself is the interpreter  In both Windows and Linux Python is a program and no program can directly change its parent s environment  However the combination of a simple shell script with a Python script doing most of the hard stuff can achieve the desired result  For example  to make an extended cd command with traversal history for backward forward select revisit  I wrote a relatively complex Python script invoked by a simple bat script  The traversal list is stored in a file  with the target directory on the first line  When the python script returns  the bat script reads the first line of the file and makes it the argument to cd  The complete bat script  minus comments for brevity  is   if   1       goto cdDone if   1       goto help if  i   1 NEQ  -H goto doCd  help echo d bat and dSup py 2016 03 05  Extended chdir  echo -C   clear traversal list  echo -B or nothing   backward  to previous dir   echo -F or -   forward  to next dir   echo -R   remove current from list and return to previous  echo -S   select from list  echo -H  -h      help  echo     make window title current directory  echo Anything else   target directory  goto done   doCd   dp0dSup py  1 for  F   d in     dp0dSupList   do       cd   d     if errorlevel 1     dp0dSup py -R       goto cdDone    cdDone title  CD   done   The python script  dSup py is   import sys  os  msvcrt  def indexNoCase   slist  s         for idx in range  len  slist              if slist idx  upper      s upper                 return idx     raise ValueError             main process                     if len  sys argv    lt  2       cmd   1   No argument defaults to -B  the most common operation elif sys argv 1  0      -       if len sys argv 1      1           cmd   2    -  alone defaults to -F  second most common operation      else           cmd    CBFRS  find  sys argv 1  1 2  upper    else       cmd   -1     dir   os path abspath  sys argv 1        n     cmd is -1   path  0   C  1   B  2   F  3   R  4   S  fo   open  os path dirname  sys argv 0         dSupList   mode    a t    fo seek  0   dlist   fo readlines  -1   if len  dlist      0       dlist append  os getcwd       n      Prime new directory list with current   if cmd    1     B  move backward  i e  to previous     target   dlist pop 0      dlist append  target   elif cmd    2     F  move forward  i e  to next     target   dlist pop  len  dlist   - 1       dlist insert  0  target   elif cmd    3     R  remove current from list  This forces cd to previous  a                   desireable side-effect     dlist pop  0   elif cmd    4     S  select from list   The current directory  dlist 0   is included essentially as ESC      for idx in range  len  dlist              print        str  idx          dlist  idx    -1       while True           inp   msvcrt getche           if inp isdigit                 inp   int  inp               if inp  lt  len  dlist                     print         Print the newline we didn t get from getche                  break         print    is out of range      Select 0 means the current directory and the list is not changed  Otherwise   the selected directory is moved to the top of the list  This can be done by   either rotating the whole list until the selection is at the head or pop it   and insert it to 0  It isn t obvious which would be better for the user but   since pop-insert is simpler  it is used      if inp  gt  0           dlist insert  0  dlist pop  inp     elif cmd    -1     -1  dir is the requested new directory    If it is already in the list then remove it before inserting it at the head    This takes care of both the common case of it having been recently visited   and the less common case of user mistakenly requesting current  in which   case it is already at the head  Deleting and putting it back is a trivial   inefficiency      try          dlist pop  indexNoCase  dlist  dir        except ValueError           pass     dlist   dlist  9    Control list length by removing older dirs  should be                         no more than one       dlist insert  0  dir     fo truncate  0   if cmd    0     C  clear the list     fo writelines  dlist    fo close   exit 0

User · Answer

os chdir   is the Pythonic version of cd

User · Answer

import os  abs path    C   a b c  rel path      folder   os chdir abs path  os chdir rel path    You can use both with os chdir abs path  or os chdir rel path   there s no need to call os getcwd   to use a relative path

User · Answer

os chdir   is the Pythonic version of cd

User · Answer

os chdir   is the right way

User · Answer

Further into direction pointed out by Brian and based on sh  1 0 8    from sh import cd  ls  cd   tmp   print ls

User · Answer

If you use spyder and love GUI  you can simply click on the folder button on the upper right corner of your screen and navigate through folders directories you want as current directory  After doing so you can go to the file explorer tab of the window in spyder IDE and you can see all the files folders present there  to check your current working directory go to the console of spyder IDE and simply type pwd  it will print the same path as you have selected before

User · Answer

Changing the current directory of the script process is trivial  I think the question is actually how to change the current directory of the command window from which a python script is invoked  which is very difficult  A Bat script in Windows or a Bash script in a Bash shell can do this with an ordinary cd command because the shell itself is the interpreter  In both Windows and Linux Python is a program and no program can directly change its parent s environment  However the combination of a simple shell script with a Python script doing most of the hard stuff can achieve the desired result  For example  to make an extended cd command with traversal history for backward forward select revisit  I wrote a relatively complex Python script invoked by a simple bat script  The traversal list is stored in a file  with the target directory on the first line  When the python script returns  the bat script reads the first line of the file and makes it the argument to cd  The complete bat script  minus comments for brevity  is   if   1       goto cdDone if   1       goto help if  i   1 NEQ  -H goto doCd  help echo d bat and dSup py 2016 03 05  Extended chdir  echo -C   clear traversal list  echo -B or nothing   backward  to previous dir   echo -F or -   forward  to next dir   echo -R   remove current from list and return to previous  echo -S   select from list  echo -H  -h      help  echo     make window title current directory  echo Anything else   target directory  goto done   doCd   dp0dSup py  1 for  F   d in     dp0dSupList   do       cd   d     if errorlevel 1     dp0dSup py -R       goto cdDone    cdDone title  CD   done   The python script  dSup py is   import sys  os  msvcrt  def indexNoCase   slist  s         for idx in range  len  slist              if slist idx  upper      s upper                 return idx     raise ValueError             main process                     if len  sys argv    lt  2       cmd   1   No argument defaults to -B  the most common operation elif sys argv 1  0      -       if len sys argv 1      1           cmd   2    -  alone defaults to -F  second most common operation      else           cmd    CBFRS  find  sys argv 1  1 2  upper    else       cmd   -1     dir   os path abspath  sys argv 1        n     cmd is -1   path  0   C  1   B  2   F  3   R  4   S  fo   open  os path dirname  sys argv 0         dSupList   mode    a t    fo seek  0   dlist   fo readlines  -1   if len  dlist      0       dlist append  os getcwd       n      Prime new directory list with current   if cmd    1     B  move backward  i e  to previous     target   dlist pop 0      dlist append  target   elif cmd    2     F  move forward  i e  to next     target   dlist pop  len  dlist   - 1       dlist insert  0  target   elif cmd    3     R  remove current from list  This forces cd to previous  a                   desireable side-effect     dlist pop  0   elif cmd    4     S  select from list   The current directory  dlist 0   is included essentially as ESC      for idx in range  len  dlist              print        str  idx          dlist  idx    -1       while True           inp   msvcrt getche           if inp isdigit                 inp   int  inp               if inp  lt  len  dlist                     print         Print the newline we didn t get from getche                  break         print    is out of range      Select 0 means the current directory and the list is not changed  Otherwise   the selected directory is moved to the top of the list  This can be done by   either rotating the whole list until the selection is at the head or pop it   and insert it to 0  It isn t obvious which would be better for the user but   since pop-insert is simpler  it is used      if inp  gt  0           dlist insert  0  dlist pop  inp     elif cmd    -1     -1  dir is the requested new directory    If it is already in the list then remove it before inserting it at the head    This takes care of both the common case of it having been recently visited   and the less common case of user mistakenly requesting current  in which   case it is already at the head  Deleting and putting it back is a trivial   inefficiency      try          dlist pop  indexNoCase  dlist  dir        except ValueError           pass     dlist   dlist  9    Control list length by removing older dirs  should be                         no more than one       dlist insert  0  dir     fo truncate  0   if cmd    0     C  clear the list     fo writelines  dlist    fo close   exit 0

User · Answer

Further into direction pointed out by Brian and based on sh  1 0 8    from sh import cd  ls  cd   tmp   print ls

User · Answer

Here s an example of a context manager to change the working directory  It is simpler than an ActiveState version referred to elsewhere  but this gets the job done   Context Manager  cd  import os  class cd         Context manager for changing the current working directory        def   init   self  newPath           self newPath   os path expanduser newPath       def   enter   self           self savedPath   os getcwd           os chdir self newPath       def   exit   self  etype  value  traceback           os chdir self savedPath    Or try the more concise equivalent below   using ContextManager   Example  import subprocess   just to call an arbitrary command e g   ls     enter the directory like this  with cd    Library         we are in   Library    subprocess call  ls      outside the context manager we are back wherever we started

User · Answer

I would use os chdir like this   os chdir   path to change to     By the way  if you need to figure out your current path  use os getcwd     More here

User · Answer

I would use os chdir like this   os chdir   path to change to     By the way  if you need to figure out your current path  use os getcwd     More here

User · Answer

os chdir   is the right way

User · Answer

If you re using a relatively new version of Python  you can also use a context manager  such as this one   from   future   import with statement from grizzled os import working directory  with working directory path to directory         code in here occurs within the directory    code here is in the original directory   UPDATE  If you prefer to roll your own   import os from contextlib import contextmanager   contextmanager def working directory directory       owd   os getcwd       try          os chdir directory          yield directory     finally          os chdir owd

User · Answer

As already pointed out by others  all the solutions above only change the working directory of the current process  This is lost when you exit back to the Unix shell  If desperate you can change the parent shell directory on Unix with this horrible hack   def quote against shell expansion s       import pipes     return pipes quote s   def put text back into terminal input buffer text         use of this means that it only works in an interactive session        and if the user types while it runs they could insert characters between the characters in  text        import fcntl  termios     for c in text          fcntl ioctl 1  termios TIOCSTI  c   def change parent process directory dest         the horror     put text back into terminal input buffer  cd   quote against shell expansion dest    n

[python] Equivalent of shell 'cd' command to change the working directory?

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